Company & Industry Research Guide
Competitive Analysis
Companies perform research and development to make innovative changes to their business practices and products. When company A conducts a Competitive Analysis on company B, they are essentially studying the innovations of company B.
Below are steps on how to perform a Competitive Analysis and resources on developing an action plan to become a competitor.
Step One
Identifying main competitors, their offerings, and their market position.
The library's database IBISWorld provides industry reports that list the main competitors and their market share. The film below shows you how to find these reports.
- IBISWorld This link opens in a new windowThis database contains a variety of industry reports including risk reports, industry summaries, market research, market conditions and forecasts, supply chain information, and competition data. Items can be viewed online or downloaded for offline use.
Finding the offerings/segments of what a company offers can be found by using the database Business Source Premier. The film below shows you how to perform this search.
- Business Source Premier This link opens in a new windowIncludes the full text for more than 2,300 journals. Full-text results are provided back to 1886, and searchable cited references back to 1998. This database covers many business disciplines, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full-text, non-journal content includes market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.
You might also want to check out a company's annual report. Annual reports are written for stakeholders to understand the conditions and advancements of a company.
Step Two
Analyze the data and draw the conclusions.
When you have gathered your data during step one, you must analyze it to draw the conclusions. Doing so will help you develop your action plan. The resources below help with analyzing data in preparation to execute an action plan.
Business and Competitive Analysis by Call Number: HD38.7 .F575 2015ISBN: 9780133086409Publication Date: 2015-02-02
Step Three
Develop an action plan to make changes to your practices/products.
It's time to execute your plan. The Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) compiled information and developed guide to perform a research based action plan.
Below are resources that help with making change in the workplace.
